Lets be honest, having an unbelievable front 4 is what got us near to winning.
This just seems odd
Tottenham and Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, 29, and Liverpoolâs England midfielder Curtis Jones, 25, are on Inter Milanâs radar. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external
Liverpool boss Arne Slot is set to stay at the club, despite Ajax being interested in the Dutchman. (Mirror), external
Liverpool are weighing up a move for 28-year-old Bournemouth and Argentina defender Marco Senesi, who has verbally agreed to join Tottenham if they avoid relegation from the Premier League. (Talksport), external
Barcelona
I dont think he was that great at it. Midfield was the weak link in that team. We just had an amazing front 4.
He was always best as a runner getting all over the place. He was better than Mac and Grav are at it though, i can give you that.
I don´t think he proved he could and if he had, we wouldnt have signed Fabinho as I said.
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I don´t think Anderson is that similar. He gets on the ball a lot more and dictates the game, playing it through the lines.
Hendo was never good at that and we tried to replace him in the side with Thiago to do just that. Hendo was more of a link player, with the occasionally lovely long ball or cross.
If we signed a monster DM and a runner like Hendo we´d still lack that progressive passing in midfield in my view. I don´t think having runners in midfield works unless your full backs are unbelievably creative and your front 3 is very very good.
When did he say this? When Hendo was playing Ferguson was always saying he chose not to sign him because of his gait. Has he really come out and admitted this was a mistake - sounds very unlike him..
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It was sometime last year but I caât find the exact one. There was the stuff about his running style but Fergie and Hendo have become good friends in subsequent years and he regretted not signing him. There;s this piece in the MEN where he says this but there was more on social media. Mind you, heâs also on record of saying Gascoigne is the players he regrets not signing most and Del Piero! Sir Alex Ferguson reveals why Manchester United did not sign Liverpool FC captain Jordan Henderson - Manchester Evening News
You do need the creative passing but Wirtz has it and he has licence to go wherever he wants. I donât see that in Anderson but he will graft and tackle and is way quicker than Macca. Scott is more creative for me but if we sign a midfielder I think it will be an anchor like Wharton who is a fantastic passer too. I like Bradley but were are a long way from having like fo like replacements fo TAA and Robbo. With a front three of Isak, Ekitike and a new winger like Olise, Diomande or even Kroupi (who is amazing for 19) we could be sorted.
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Theres Hendo going further down in my estimation.
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Arsenal is on track to win a double with a midfield like you just described.
I have a feeling that we have basically botched this decade by not going after Rice.
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If youâd said that about Lionel Messi youâd be wrong but the hyperbole would at least be understandable; but Declan Rice?
I mean, the midfield. Our mid totally lacks strength, steel and defense after 2022. Rice can also provides the kind of leadership that we no longer have since Hendo and Milly left.
Wirtz might have actually succeeded if there was a Rice behind him.
I can name a list of botches:
- Haaland (somehow we never noticed him when scouting Minamino back in 2020).
- Dembele (imagine signing him instead of Nunez and Gakpo)
- Rice (should have gone after him right after 2021/2022 season instead of Bellingham and Camavinga). Would have been a massive upgrade compared to say, Jones. In fact 20-year-old Rice in 2019 is better than Jones right now.
- Kvaratskhelia
- Olise
If go back to the pre-Klopp era:
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Gareth Bale (IMO our worst miss)
- Dani Alves
- James Milner (yes, when he was younger, should have gone after him instead of the more established Barry)
Front 3 you mean?
It was important for the balance of that side, just a few days ago Salah spoke how it wouldâve been impossible to have the success we had without players like Hendo, Millie and Gini.
We constantly tried to evolve and add new layers, as it was logical to do and peak Fabinho won that place, we got little help from other players who were a bit different.
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Thiago didnât replace Hendo in that side, Hendo since the spring of 2019 basically won that RCM #8 spot, which was an important area between the likes of Trent and Salah.
We wouldnât sign a âmonster DMâ who cannot play or a runner who cannot play because we cannot play with the former and the latter is not just a runner.
There are levels to certain skills. All those players could play in their own way. And now, weâll need more than an individual or two of certain type in midfield to make this team function at the highest level again.
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Donât forget in which thread you are, if you find certain things odd. Even if some of those things wouldnât be odd at all.
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I think you have to learn that sometimes players have other options, especially top players who always have multiple options. Itâs not in our hands. Torres, Wirtz, and Isak are the only three times weâve bought the hottest players on the market in the last 30 years. All the names on your list are in that bucket. Everyone wants them, but not everyone can get them. And Rice is massively overrated.
And again, buying the hottest player available is definitely not the solution for everything. Last summer already showed that.
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Its not about creating, it is about progressive passing.
Players like Wirtz (or even Gerrard when he was behind Torres) do best with a progressive passer behind them to pick them out regularly. That player has to turn and zip it through the lines and pick out your creative player in a good area so that Wirtz (or Gerrard) can go and do things in the final third. If you don´t have that Wirtz is always limited.
Wharton is a good progressive passer and very good at passing through the lines.
Yes our full backs are nowhere near Trent and Robbo creatively which is why it wouldnt work. I don´t think isak and Hugo in a front 3 is the way to go either as one would be out of position out wide. But yes we definitely need a quality winger or more likely two.
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We did. It´s exactly why Thiago was signed - because we wanted a progressive passer in there not just runners. Sadly he was always injured.
Fabinho couldnt play? I don´t know what you´re trying to say in that second or third paragraphs to be honest. We absolutely need 2 types of midfielder. It might not fix Slot but without those types we won´t go anywhere.
There´s a modern obsession with having your midfielders do everything. The reality is that 3 specialists beats 3 generalists and what you end up with is a jack of all trades master of none. It´s what we have now.
I was talking about the Coutinho Suarez Sterling Sturridge team.
And yes Salah said that. That team worked because the midfield did all the dirty work and the full backs were so creative it made up for having very little creativity or passing play in midfield.
Then again I´d argue the only area City were better than us was in midfield and they won the title 5 out of 6 times. I don´t think a workmanlike midfield is ever enough long term.
Thiago was brought in for more control and quality in the middle, but he didnât replace Henderson. They both played most of the time. It was how we created the balance needed. The 21/22 season was the prime example of that combination.
I wasnât referring to Fabinho as the âmonster DMâ. Iâm just saying we will not sign a player like that who is not able to play well enough. Although that has also something to do with who is our head coach and for now Iâm still counting that itâs Slot. Who wanted Zubimendi in his first transfer window.
Some of the worldâs best current midfielders and midfields consist of players who do offer a bit of everything. Itâs not the only way of course. I agree something will probably have to be done in midfield, but for me there are issues in different phases of the game that will have to be fixed regardless what we do in the transfer market.
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